“We were just looking for the right time to come back”: Nobody expected Fender to return to NAMM – but the guitar giant is finally coming home to the world’s biggest gear trade show

Fender has announced it will officially return to NAMM next year.

The January 2025 edition of the world's biggest gear trade show will mark the first time Fender has taken part in the event’s festivities since the 2020, which took place just before the pandemic.

After that show, Fender seemingly called it quits on its NAMM tenure, and as recently as 2023 the firm’s CEO Andy Mooney told Guitar World that a return to the show looked highly unlikely.

However, in a rather spectacular (and very welcome) U-turn, Fender has now recommitted itself to NAMM, and will once again grace the corridors of the Anaheim Convention Center when the show takes place next January.

In an announcement video, Mooney sat alongside NAMM CEO John Mlynczak to discuss the circumstances surrounding Fender’s return.

He explains, “When NAMM closed during Covid and we were compelled to come up with a plan B, we developed this online dealer event and reallocated the money we would have spent going to the show into increased marketing.

“That has worked for us. We want to continue doing those, but we sadly missed actually having a physical presence at NAMM; that high-touch in-person longform interaction is vitally important for the industry,” he continues. “We were just looking for the right time to come back.

“Going forward, [Fender] will have more and exciting new products to intro at NAMM and then in the fall, we will revert back to our online dealer events. We’re thrilled to be back, we missed being there, and I’m excited to see everyone again back in Anaheim.”

Previously, Mooney had cited the cost associated with attending NAMM, as well as the ability to network remotely, as the two overwhelming factors that influenced Fender to initially pull out of the show.

Mooney also drew comparisons to the cancellation of the popular E3 gaming show, which was pulled after Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all opted against attending.

“What happened was, out of necessity during Covid, people experimented with other approaches and have found that they are actually not only better for the brands but better for the industry,” he said at the time.

“In our case, it costs to set up the booth, have everybody there – that’s a substantial bill. What happens during NAMM which always used to make me pull my hair out is, we’d only get to spend an hour with major retailers.”

As such, there was a time when Fender's return to NAMM looked highly unlikely.

Fender wasn’t alone, either, and after the Covid pandemic a large number of other high-profile brands all pulled out of NAMM, including Gibson, PRS and Boss, to name a few.

Fender’s name remained one of the biggest to be missing from shows over the past few years, though, so its return – further encouraged by Mlynczak’s vision for NAMM's future – comes as a very welcome surprise.

Not only does this speak to the faith that industry shot-callers have in the NAMM format – which some commentators believed may not last for much longer – but also of the possibility that other absent brands could follow suit.

If other companies follow Fender’s example, then we could be looking at a fully stocked NAMM lineup in the not-too-distant future. If someone told you that a few years ago, you might not have believed them.

It’s worth noting that Fender’s return also comes off the back of a highly triumphant NAMM 2024 show, which put the spotlight on innovative gear and boundary-breaking players. Throw Fender into that melting pot, and NAMM 2025 could be a very special show indeed.

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